Brand posts with memes on social media: perceived humor and consumer engagement

Purpose As memes become an increasingly more common form of communication on social media, brands are beginning to leverage their humorous appeal as a strategy to capture consumer attention. This study aims to examine how brand social media posts that feature memes influence consumers’ perceived humor and impact consumer engagement behavior. Furthermore, this study investigates the potential pitfalls of using memes in more serious, cause-related campaigns. Design/methodology/approach The authors gathered data through a series of six studies, comprised of five experiments and one study using real-world social media data from X (formerly Twitter). The authors tested the hypotheses using both real data and experimental manipulations of memes, measuring perceived humor and engagement metrics. Findings Consumers perceived posts with memes to be more humorous than non-meme posts leading to increased consumer engagement, reflected by the number of likes and shares. However, using memes in cause-related campaigns resulted in a decrease in consumer engagement. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the authors’ understanding of the role of perceived humor conveyed through memes in consumer online engagement and the limitations of humor in cause-related campaigns. For marketers, meme usage should align with the message tone to maximize the positive impact on consumer engagement. Originality/value This research highlights the dual role of memes in branded social media content, examining both the advantages and potential risks of perceived humor in memes. This study provides valuable insight into how memes influence consumer engagement and identifies conditions where meme use may detract from a brand’s marketing strategy.